truly to the like Struck near at hand doth make another strike How comes it then that our Affections jar What Opposition doth beget this War I know that Nature frankly to thee gave That measure of her Bounty that I have And as to me she likewise to thee lent For ev'ry Sense a several Instrument But ev'ry one because it is thine own Doth prize it self unto it self alone Thy dainty hand when it it self doth touch That feeling tells it that there is none such When in thy Glass thine Eye it self doth see That thinks there 's none like to it self can be And ev'ry one doth judge it self divine Because that thou dost challenge it for thine And each it self Narcissus-like doth smother Loving it self nor cares for any other Fie be not burn'd thus in thine own desire 'T is needless Beauty should it self admire The Sun by which all Creatures light'ned be And seeth all it self yet cannot see And his own Brightness his own foil is made And is to us the cause of his own shade When first thy Beauty by mine Eye was prov'd It saw not then so much to be belov'd But when it came a perfect view to take Each Look of one doth many Beauties make In little Circles first it doth arise Then somewhat larger seeming in mine Eyes And in this circling Compass as it goes So more and more the same in Greatness grows And as it yet at liberty is let The Motion still doth other Forms beget Until at length look any way I could Nothing there was but Beauty to behold Art thou offended that thou art belov'd Remove the cause th' effect is soon remov'd Indent with Beauty how far to extend Set down Desire a Limit where to end Then charm thine Eyes that they no more may wound And limit Love to keep within a bound If this thou do'st then shalt thou doe much more And bring to pass what never was before Make Anguish sportive craving all Delight Mirth solemn sullen and inclin'd to Night Ambition lowly envy speaking well Love his Relief for Niggardize to sell Our Warlike Fathers did these Forts devise As surest Holds against our Enemies Places wherein your Sex might safeliest rest Fear soon is setled in a Womans Breast Thy Breast is of another temper far And then thy Castle fitter for the War Thou do'st not safely in thy Castle rest Thy Castle should be safer in thy Breast That keeps out Foes but doth thy Friends inclose But ah thy Breast keeps out both Friends and Foes That may be batter'd or be undermin'd Or by straight Siege for want of succour pin'd But thy hard Heart 's invincible to all And more obdurate then thy Castle Wall Of all the shapes that ever Jove did prove Wherewith he us'd to entertain his Love That likes me best when in a golden Showre He rain'd himself on Danae in her Towre Nor did I ever envy his command In that he bears the Thunder in his Hand But in that showry shape I cannot be And as he came to her I come to thee Thy Tow'r with Foes is not begirt about If thou within they are besieg'd without One Hair of thine more vigour doth retain To bind thy Foe then any Iron Chain Who might be giv'n in such a golden String Would not be captive though he were a King Hadst thou all India heap'd up in thy Fort And thou thy self besieged in that sort Get thou but out where they can thee espye They 'll follow thee and let the Treasure lye I cannot think what force thy Tower should win If thou thy self do'st guard the same within Thine Eye retains Artillery at will To kill whoever thou desir'st to kill For that alone more deeply wounds Mens Hearts Than they can thee though with a thousand Darts For there intrenched little Cupid lyes And from those Turrets all the World defies * And when thou let'st down that transparent Lid Of Entrance there an Army doth forbid And as for Famine her thou need'st not fear Who thinks of Want when thou art present there Thy onely sight puts Spirit into the Blood And comforts Life without the taste of Food And as thy Souldiers keep their Watch and Ward Thy Chastity thy inward Breast doth guard Thy modest Pulse serves as a Larum Bell Which watched by some wakefull Sentinell Is stirring still with every little Fear Warning if any Enemy be near Thy vertuous Thoughts when all the others rest Like carefull Scouts pass up and down thy Breast And still they round about that place do keep Whilst all the blessed Garrison do sleep But yet I fear if that the truth were told That thou hast rob'd and fly'st into this Hold I thought as much and didst this Fort devise That thou in safety here might'st tyranize Yes thou hast robb'd the Heaven and Earth of all And they against thy lawless Theft do call Thine Eyes with mine that wage continual Wars Borrow their brightness of the twinkling Stars Thy Lips from mine that in thy Mask be pent Have filch'd the Blushing from the Orient Thy Cheek for which mine all this Pennance proves Steals the pure whiteness both from Swans Doves Thy Breath for which mine still in Sighs consumes Hath robb'd all Flowers all Odours and Perfumes O mighty Love bring hither all thy Pow'r And fetch this Heav'nly Thief out of her Tow'r For if she may be suff'red in this sort Heavens store will soon be hoarded in this Fort. When I arriv'd before that State of Love And saw thee on that Battlement above I thought there was no other Heaven but there And thou an Angel didst from thence appear But when my Reason did reprove mine Eye That thou wert subject to Mortality I then excus'd what the bold Scot had done No marvel that he would the Fort have won Perceiving well those envious Walls did hide More wealth then was in all the World beside Against thy Foe I came to lend thee aid And thus to thee my self I have betray'd He is besieg'd the Siege that came to raise There 's no Assault that not my Breast assays Love grown extream doth find unlawfull Shifts The Gods take shapes and do allure with Gifts Commanding Jove that by great Styx doth swear Forsworn in Love with Lovers Oaths doth bear Love causeless still doth aggravate his cause It is his Law to violate all Laws His Reason is in only wanting Reason And were untrue not deeply touch'd with Treason Unlawfull Means doth make his lawfull Gain He speaks most true when he the most doth fain Pardon the Faults that have escap'd by Me Against fair Vertue Chastity and Thee If Gods can their own Excellence excell It is in pard'ning Mortals that rebell When all thy Trials are enroll'd by Fame And all thy Sex made glorious by thy Name Then I a Captive shall be brought hereby T' adorn the Triumph of thy Chastity I sue not now thy Paramour to be But as a Husband to be link'd to thee I 'm
History Am I at Home pursu'd with private Hate And War comes raging to my Palace Gate RObert Earl of Leicester who took part with young King Henry entred into England with an Army of three thousand Flemings and spoiled the Countries of Norfolk and Suffolk being succoured by many of the King 's private Enemies And am I branded with the Curse of Rome King Henry the Second the first Plantaginet accused for the Death of Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury slain in that Cathedral Church was accursed by Pope Alexander although he urged sufficient proof of his Innocency in the same and offered to take upon him any Pennance so he might avoid the Curse and Interdiction of his Realm And by the Pride of my rebellious Son Rich Normandy with Armies over-run Henry the young King whom King Henry had caused to be Crowned in his Life as he hoped both for his own good and the good of his Subjects which indeed turned to his own Sorrow and the trouble of the Realm for he rebelled against him and raising a Power by the means of Lewis King of France and William King of Scots who took part with him and invaded Normandy Unkind my Children most unkind Wife Never King more unfortunate then King Henry in the disobedience of his Children First Henry then Geoffrey then Richard then John all at one time or other first or last unnaturally rebelled against him then the Jealousie of Elinor his Queen who suspected his Love to Rosamond Which grievous troubles the Devout of those Times attributed to happen to him justly for refusing to take on him the Government of Jerusalem offered to him by the Patriarch there which Country was mightily afflicted by the Souldan Which only Vaughan thou and I do know This Vaughan was a Knight whom the King exceedingly loved who kept the Palace at Woodstock and much of the Kings Jewels and Treasure to whom the King committed many of his Secrets and in whom he reposed such trust that he durst commit his Love unto his Charge FINIS KING JOHN TO MATILDA The ARGUMENT After King John had assayed by all means possible to win the fair and chast Matilda to his unchast and unlawfull Bed and by unjust Courses and false accusation banish'd the Lord Robert Fitzwater her Noble Father and many other Allies who justly withstood the desire of this wanton King seeking the dishonour of his fair and vertuous Daughter This chast Lady still solicited by the lascivious King flies unto Dunmow in Essex where she becomes a Nun the King still persisting in his Suit sollicites her by this Epistle her Reply confirms her vow'd and invincible Chastity making known to the King her pure unspotted Thoughts WHen these my Letters thy bright Eyes shall view Think them not forc'd or feign'd or strange or new Thou know'st no way no means no course exempted Left now unsought unprov'd on unattempted All Rules Regards all secret Helps of Art What Knowledge Wit Experience can impart And in the old Worlds Ceremonies doted Good days for Love Times Hours Minute noted And where Art left Love teacheth more to find By signs in presence to express the Mind Oft hath mine Eye told thine Eye Beauty griev'd it And begg'd but for one Look to have reliev'd it And still with thine Eyes motion mine Eye mov'd Lab'ring for Mercy telling how it lov'd You blusht I blusht your Cheek pale pale was mine My Red thy Red my Whiteness answer'd thine You sigh'd I sigh'd we both one Passion prove But thy sigh is for Hate my sigh for Love If a word pass'd that insufficient were To help that word mine Eye let forth a Tear And if that Tear did dull or senseless prove My Heart would fetch a Throb to make it move Oft in thy Face one Favour from the rest I singled forth that pleas'd my Fancy best This likes me most another likes me more A third exceeding both those lik'd before Then one as Wonder were derived thence Then that whose rareness passeth excellence Whilst I behold thy Globe-like rowling Eye Thy lovely Cheek me thinks stands smiling by And tells me those are Shadows and Supposes But bids me thither come and gather Roses Looking on that thy Brow doth call to me To come to it if Wonders I will see Now have I done and then thy dimpled Chin Again doth tell me newly I begin And bids me yet to look upon thy Lip Lest wond'ring least the great'st Loverslip My gazing Eye on this and this doth sease Which surfeits yet cannot Desire appease Now like I Brown O lovely Brown thy Hair Only in Browness Beauty dwelleth there Then love I Black think Eye-ball black as Jet Which in a Globe pure Crystalline is set Then White but Snow nor Swan nor Ivory please Then are thy Teeth whiter by much then these In Brown in Black in Pureness and in White All Love all Sweets all Rareness all Delight Thus my stol'n Heart sweet Thief thou hence do'st carry And now thou fly'st into a Sanctuary Fie peevish Girl ingratefull unto Nature Was it for this she fram'd thee such a Creature That thou her Glory should'st encrease thereby And thou alone do'st scorn Society Why Heav'n made Beauty like her self to view Not to be lock'd up in a smoaky Mew A Rosie-tincted Feature is Heav'ns Gold Which all Men joy to touch all to behold It was enacted when the World begun So rare a Beauty should not live a Nun But if this Vow thou needs wilt undertake Oh were mine Arms a Cloyster for thy sake Still may his Pains for ever be augmented This Superstition idly that invented Ill might he thrive who brought this Custome hither That holy People might not live together A happy Time a good World was it then When holy Women liv'd with holy Men. But Kings in this yet priviledg'd may be I 'll be a Monk so I may live with thee Who would not rise to ring the Morning's Knell When thy sweet Lips might be the sacring Bell Or what is he not willingly would fast That on those Lips might feast his Lips at last Who to his Mattins early would not rise Might he but read by th' Light of thy fair Eyes On Worldly Pleasures who would ever look That had thy Curls his Beads thy Brows his Book Wert Thou the Cross to Thee who would not creep And wish the Cross still in his Arms to keep Sweet Girl I 'll take this holy Habit on me Of meer Devotion that is come upon me Holy Matilda Thou the Saint of mine I 'll be thy Servant and my Bed thy Shrine When I do offer be thy Breast the Altar And when I pray thy Mouth shall be my Psalter The Beads that we will bid shall be sweet Kisses Which we will number if one Pleasure misses And when an Ave comes to say Amen We will begin and tell them o'er again Now all good Fortune give me happy Thrift As I should joy t' absolve thee after Shrift But see
My faint Hand writing when my full Eye reads From ev'ry word strange Passion still proceeds Oh when the Soul is fetter'd once in Woe 'T is strange what Humors it doth force us to A Tear doth drown a Tear Sigh Sigh doth smother This hinders that that interrupts the other The o'er watch'd weakness of the sick Conceit Is that which makes small Beauty seem so great Like things which hid in troubled Waters lye Which crook'd seem straight if straight the contrary And thus our vain Imagination shews it As it conceives it not as Judgment knows it As in a Mirrour if the same be true Such as your likeness justly such are you But as you change your self it changeth there And shews you as you were not not as you were And with your Motion doth your shadow move If Frown or Smile such the conceit of Love Why tell me is it possible the Mind A Form in all Deformity should find Within the compass of Man's Face we see How many sorts of sev'ral Favours be And in the Chin the Nose the Brow the Eye The smallest Diff'rence that you can descry Alters Proportion altereth the Grace Nay oft destroys the Favour of the Face And in the World scarce Two so like there are One with the other which if you compare But being set before you both together A judging Sight doth soon distinguish either How Woman-like a Weakness is it then Oh what strange Madness so possesseth Men Bereft of Sense such senseless Wonders seeing Without Form Fashion Certainty or Being For which so many dye to live in anguish Yet cannot live if thus they should not languish That Comfort yields not and yet Hope denies not A Life that lives not and a Death that dyes not That hates us most when most it speaks us fair Doth promise all Things always pays with Air Yet sometime doth our greatest Grief appease To double Sorrow after little Ease Like that which thy lascivious Will doth crave Which if once had thou never more canst have Which if thou get in getting thou do'st waste it Taken is lost and perish'd if thou hast it Which if thou gain'st thou ne'er the more hast won I losing nothing yet am quite undone And yet of that if that a King deprave me No King restores though he a Kingdom gave me * Do'st thou of Father and of Friends deprive me And tak'st thou from me all that Heav'n did give me What Nature claims by Bloud Allies or Neerness Or Friendship challenge by regard or dearness Ma'kst me an Orphan e'er my Father dye A wofull Widow in Virginity Is thy unbridled Lust the cause of all And now thy flatt'ring Tongue bewails my Fall The dead Man's Grave with feigned Tears to fill So the devouring Crocodile doth kill To harbour Hate in shew of wholesome Things So in the Rose the poysoned Serpent stings To lurk far off yet lodge Destruction by The Basilisk so poysons with the Eye To call for Aid and then to lye in wait So the Hyena Murthers by Deceit By sweet Inticement sudden Death to bring So from the Rocks the alluring Mermaids sing In greatest Wants t' inflict the greatest Woe Is ev'n the utmost Tyranny can do But where I see the Tempest thus prevails What use of Anchors or what need of Sails Above us blust'ring Winds and dreadfull Thunder The Waters gape for our Destruction under Here on this side the furious Billows flye There Rocks there Sands and dang'rous While-pools lye Is this the mean that Mightiness approves And in this sort doe Princes woe their Loves Mildness would better sute with Majesty Then rash Revenge and rough Severity Oh in what Safety Temperance doth rest Obtaining Harbour in a Soveraign Breast Which if so praisefull in the meanest Men In pow'rfull Kings how glorious is it then * Fled I first hither hoping to have aid Here thus to have mine Innocence betray'd Is Court and Countrey both her Enemy And no place found to shrow'd in Chastity Each House for Lust a Harbour and an Inn And ev'ry City a Receit for Sin And all do pity Beauty in distress If Beauty chaste then only pittiless Thus is she made the instrument to Ill And unreliev'd may wander where she will Lascivious Poets which abuse the Truth Which oft teach Age to Sin infecting Youth For the unchast make Trees and Stones to mourn Or as they please to other shapes do turn Cinyra's Daughter whose incestuous Mind Made her wrong Mature and dishonour Kind Long since by them is turn'd into a Myrrhe Whose dropping Liquor ever weeps for her And in a Fountain Biblis doth deplore Her Fault so vile and monstrous before Silla which once her Father did betray Is now a Bird if all be true they say She that with Phoebus did the foul Offence Now metamorphos'd into Frankincense Others to Flowers to Odours and to Gum At least Jove's Leman is a Star become And more they feign a thousand fond Excuses To cloud their Scapes and cover their Abuses The Virgin only they obscure and hide Whilst the Vnchaste by them are Deifi'd And if by them a Virgin be exprest She must be rank'd ignobly with the rest I am not now as when thou saw'st me last Time hath those Features utterly defac'd And all those Beauties which sat on my Brow Thou wouldst not think such ever had been now And glad I am that time with me is done * Vowing my self religiously a Nun My Vestal Habit me contenting more Then all the Robes adorning me before Had Rosamond a Recluse of our sort Taken our Cloyster left the wanton Court Shadowing that Beauty with a holy Vale Which she alas too loosely set to sale She need not like an ugly Minotaur Have been lock'd up from jealous Elenor But been as famous by thy Mothers Wrongs As by thy Father subject to all Tongues To shadow Sin Might can the most pretend Kings but the Conscience all things can defend A stronger Hand restrains our wilfull pow'rs A Will must rule above this Will of ours Not following what our Lusts do urge us to But what for Vertues sake we only do And hath my Father chose to live exil'd Before his Eyes should see my Youth defil'd * And to withstand a Tyrant's lewd desire Beheld his Towns spent in revengefull Fire Yet never touch'd with Grief so only I Exempt from shame might honourably dye And shall this Jewel which so dearly cost Be after all by my Dishonour lost No no each rev'rend Word each holy Tear Of his in me too deep Impression bear His latest Farewell at his last depart More deeply is ingraved in my Heart Nor shall that Blot by me his Name shall have Bring his gray hairs with sorrow to the Grave Better his Tears to fall upon my Tomb Than for my Birth to curse my Mothers Womb. * Though Dunmow give no refuge here at all Dunmow can give my Body Burial If all remorseless no Tear-shedding Eye My Self will moan my Self so live
of famous Willoughby Here Montacute rang'd his unconquer'd Band Here march'd we out and here we made a stand What should we sit to mourn and grieve all day For that which Time doth easily take away What Fortune hurts let Suff'rance only heal No wisdom with Extremities to deal To know our selves to come of humane Birth These sad Afflictions cross us here on Earth A punishment from the eternal Law To make us still of Heav'n to stand in awe In vain we prize that at so dear a rate Whose long'st assurance bear 's a Minutes date Why should we idly talk of our Intent When Heav'ns Decree no Counsel can prevent When our fore-sight not possibly can shun That which the Fates determine shall be don Henry hath Power and may my life depose Mine Honour 's mine that none hath power to lose Then be as chearful beautious Royal Queen As in the Court of France we oft have been * As when arriv'd in Porcesters fair Road Where for our coming Henry made aboad When in mine Arms I brought thee safe to Land And gave my Love to Henry's Royal Hand The happy Hours we passed with the King At fair Southampton long in Banqueting With such content as lodg'd in Henries Breast When he to London brought thee from the West Through golden Cheap when he in Pomp did ride To Westminster to entertain his Bride ANNOTATIONS on the Chronicle History Our Faulkons kind cannot the Cage endure HE alludes in these Verses to the Faulcon which was the ancient Device of the Pools comparing the greatness and haughtiness of his spirit to the nature of this Bird. This was the mean proud Warwick did invent To my disgrace c. The Commons at this Parliament through Warwicks means accused Suffolk of Treason and urged the Accusation so vehemently that the King was forced to exile him for five years That only I by yielding up of Main Should be the loss of fertile Aquitain The Duke of Suffolk being sent into France to conclude a Peace chose Duke Rayners Daughter the Lady Margaret whom he espoused for Henry the sixth delivering for her to her Father the Countries of Anjou and Main and the City of Mauns Whereupon the Earl of Arminack whose Daughter was before promised to the King seeing himself to be deluded caused all the Englishmen to be expulsed Aquitain Gascoyne and Guyne With the base vulgar sort to win him fame To be the Heir of good Duke Humphry's name This Richard that was called the great Earl of Warwick when Duke Humphry was dead grew into exceeding great favour with the Commons With Salisbury his vile ambitious Sire In York's stern Breast kindling long hidden fire By Clarence Title working to supplant The Eagle-Airy of great John of Gaunt Richard Plantaginet Duke of York in the time of Henry the Sixth claymed the Crown being assisted by this Richard Nevil Earl of Salisbury and Father to the great Earl of Warwick who favoured exceedingly the House of York in open Parliament as Heir to Lionel Duke of Clarence the third Son of Edward the Third making his Title by Ann his Mother Wife to Richard Earl of Cambridge Son to Edmund of Langley Duke of York Which Ann was Daughter to Roger Mortimer Earl of March which Roger was Son and Heir to Edmund Mortimer that married the Lady Philip Daughter and Heir to Lionel Duke of Clarence the third Son of King Edward to whom the Crown after King Richard the Seconds Death lineally descended he dying without Issue and not to the Heir of the Duke of Lancaster that was younger Brother to the Duke of Clarence Hall cap. 1. Tit. Yor. Lanc. Urg'd by these envious Lords to spend their breath Calling revenge on the Protectors death Humphry Duke of Glouster and Lord Protector in the five and twentieth year of Henry the Sixth by means of the Queen and the Duke of Suffolk was arrested by the Lord Beaumont at the Parliament holden at Bury and the same Night after murthered in his Bed If they would know who rob'd him c To this Verse To know how Humphry dy'd and who shall reign In these Verses he jests at the Protectors Wife who being accused and convicted of Treason because with John Hun a Priest Roger Bullenbrook a Necromancer and Margery Jordan called the Witch of Eye she had consulted by Sorcery to kill the King was adjudged to perpetual Imprisonment in the Isle of Man and to do Penance openly in three publick places in London For twenty years and have I serv'd in France In the sixth year of Henry the Sixth the Duke of Bedford being deceased then Lieutenant General and Regent of France this Duke of Suffolk was promoted to that Dignity having the Lord Talbot Lord Scales and the Lord Mountacute to assist him Against great Charles and Bastard Orleance This was Charles the Seventh who after the death of Henry the Fifth obtained the Crown of France and recovered again much of that his Father had lost Bastard Orleance was Son to the Duke of Orleance begotten of the Lord Cawnies Wife preferred highly to many notable Offices because be being a most valiant Captain was a continual Enemy to the Englishmen dayly infesting them with divers Incursions And have I seen Vernoyla's batful Fields Vernoyle is that noted place in France where the great Battle was fought in the beginning of Henry the Sixth his Reign where most of the French Chivalrie were overcome by the Duke of Bedford And from Aumerle withdrew my Warlike Powers Aumerle is that strong defenced Town in France which the Duke of Suffolk got after four and twenty great Assaults given unto it And came my self in person first to Tours Th'Embassadours for Truce to entertain From Belgia Denmark Hungary and Spain Tours is a City in France built by Brutus as he came into Brittain where in the one and twentieth year of the Reign of Henry the Sixth was appointed a great Diet to be kept whither came Embassadors of the Empire Spain Hungary and Denmark to intreat for a perpetual Peace to be made between the two Kings of England and France By true descent to wear the Diadem Of Naples Cicil and Jerusalem Rayner Duke of Anjou Father to Queen Margaret called himself King of Naples Cicily and Jerusalem having the Title alone of the King of those Countries A fifteenth Tax in France I freely spent The Duke of Suffolk after the Marriage concluded between King Henry and Margaret Daughter to Rayner asked in open Parliament a whole Fifteenth to fetch her into England Seen thee for England but imbarqu'd at Deep Deep is a Town in France bordering upon the Sea where the Duke of Suffolk with Queen Margaret took Ship for England As when arriv'd at Porchesters fair Rhoad Porchester a Haven Town in the South-West part of England where the King tarried expecting the Queens arrival whom from thence be conveyed to Southampton Queen MARGARET TO WILLIAM DE-LA-POOLE Duke of SUFFOLK WHat news sweet Pool look'st